294 ZOOLOGY. 



Found ou the edges of the prairies and in the more open portions of the forests. It appears 

 to choose the neighborhood of I'otten logs. It is quite active, running and dodging about as 

 nimbly as a squirrel. — S. 



SCELOPORUS GRACIOSUS, Baird & Girard. 



Tlie Slender Fence Lizard, 



5. graeiosus, B. & G. Pioc Acad. Nat. Sc. Phil. VI, Apr. 1852, p. 69.— Id. Ex. to Great Salt Lake, 1852, p. 31G ; pi. v, 



fig. 1. 

 S. gracilis. B. & G. Proc. Acad. 8c. Phil. 1S52, p. 175— Girabd, Herpet. U. S. Expl. Exp. 1858, p. 38G ; pi. xx, fig. 1 !). 



Sp. Cu. — Cephalic plates smooth; anterior parietal larger than vertex plate; middle occipital very large, pentagonal. 

 Post-anal scales large, sub-lanceolate, smooth, posteriorly notched. Posteiior surface of thighs covered with small, rounded, 

 smooth scales. Olivaceous above, with a double series of crescent-shaped black spots on the back and two lateral light 

 streaks, between which U a row of black spots. Beneath, yellowish ; under surf.icc of head clouded with bluish. Mali> 

 with an elongated blue patch on each side of the abdomen. 



Found at the Dalles, Oregon Territory, or at Steilacoom. At Fort Dalles they live in the 

 cracks of the basaltic rocks, which their colors resemble in tint, being darker than those at 

 Steilacoom. They usually emerge from their hybernation about the middle of March. — S. 



CROTAPHYTUS WISLIZENII, Baird & Girard. 



a wislizenii, 11. & G. Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VI, Apr. 1852, p. 69.— Ib. Ex. to Great Salt Lake, 1852, p. 340 ; pi. iii. 

 C. gambdii, B & G. Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. Phila. VI, 1852, p. 126. 



C. fasciatus, IIallowei.l, Pr. Acad. Nat. Sc. VI, 1852, p. 207. — Ib. Sitgreaves Ex. to Zufii, 1853, p. 1 15 ; pi. v. 

 gp Cu — Head proportionately narrow and elongated. Cephalic plates and scales on the back very uraall. Vellowish 

 brown, spotted all over witli small patches of deep brown or black, becoming partial or complete rings on the tail. 



Found at the Dalles, Oregon Territory, and up Snake river, near Fort Boise. — S. 



TAPAYA DOUGLASSII, Girard. 



The Oregon Horned Toad, 



Agama douglassd, Bell, Traus. Linn. Soc. London, XVI, 1833, 105 ; pi. x. — Hablan, Med. & Phys. Researches, 1835, 



141, fig. 3. 

 Phryncsoma douglassii, Wagl. Natural Syst. Amph 1820, 146. — Holbrook, N. A. Herpet. II, 1842, 101 ; pi. xiv. — 



GiiiAni),Stansbury's Ex. to Salt Lake, 1852, 361 and 362 ; pi. vii, figs. 6-10. 

 Tapaya douglassii, Gik.^ed, U. S. Expl. Exp. Herpet, 397 ; pi. xxi, figs. 1-5. 



Sp. Cu. — Head large, depressed ; vertex slightly declivous ; snout sub-convex or rounded, sub-depressed at the nostrils. 

 Cephalic plates moderate, very rugo.-e, occipital and temporal spines reduced to small acerated cones. Sub-maxillar shields 

 moderate and ridged. Auricular aperture granular, sub-tubercular, or sub-denticulated in front. L;rbial platts moderate. 

 Mental scales small and unequal; gular folds minutely scaly. Abdominal scales moderate, sub-rhomboid, posteriorly 

 obtuse. Fermoral pores distant; the seiies from either side approximating upon the inter-femoral region without being 

 continuous. 



I obtained numerous specimens of this singular animal in the vicinity of the Yakima river, 

 in August, and saw them as far as latitude 48° 30' north, on the open plains, usually among 

 rocks and sand. They all had the gray color which they retain in alcohol, excepting one, 

 which was of a brick red on the back, but beneath white, like the rest. These colors resemble 

 those of the stones among which they live, and it is supposed by some that they have the 

 power of changing their hue like the chameleon, and like the better known tree toad of the 

 Atlantic States. Though ferocious in appearance they are perfectly harmless; j^et the Indians 

 believe them to have the power of producing a poisonous wound with their blunt spines, and 

 it is possible that such a wound, if made, might sometimes be troublesome. They do not 

 attempt to bite, and are so slow in motion as scarcely to get out of the way. They are, no 



